Apt. Markets See Stability Amid Growth Slowdown
August 3, 2017 | Paul Bubny | GlobeSt.com
SANTA BARBARA, CA—An average monthly rent increase so small it barely registers as a fraction of 1%? In the long term, the moderation of growth is actually a positive, according to Yardi Matrix, which cites broad-based stability across the US apartment market in its latest monthly survey, issued Thursday.
July saw rents increase by an average of $1 to $1,350 across the 121 markets surveyed by Yardi Matrix. Rents were up by 2.6% year over year for the month, compared to 2.7% for June and a 6.8% Y-O-Y increase in September 2015.
Despite the month’s virtually flat rent growth, Yardi Matrix sees “an overall healthy state” for the multifamily market nationally. For one thing, it’s normal for rent growth to moderate in the second half of the year, and the year-to-date gains put 2017 above the long-term average. Trend-wise, says Yardi Matrix, “the market is in an extended period of rate-growth deceleration, coming down from unsustainably high increases—as high as 5.7% in early 2016.”
